A/N: Sorry for the lateness, please enjoy!
Chapter 15:
Haunted
The three of them spent weeks searching for Ava Wilson. Sam checked every database and followed every lead possible, but it was no use. It was almost as if Ava had vanished off of the face of the earth.
That was when Sam made the decision to give up the search. He still longed to find his friend but knew that trying to find her shouldn't be preventing him from saving other people. He took a case from Ellen that involved two mysterious deaths at the Pierpont Inn located in Cornwall, Connecticut. The three of them figured it would be an easy case.
Dean, Sam, and Mia stepped out of the Impala onto the grounds of the magnificent, yet eerie-looking, mansion.
"Wow," Sam sighed in awe, "I can understand why a ghost would want to haunt this place, it's beautiful."
Dean rolled his eyes as they began unloading the car. "Man, I'm just glad we're doing a simple case, the run-of-the-mill haunted house, with fog, secret passages, and hey, maybe we'll even run into Fred and Daphne. Mmm, Daphne. I love her."
Mia grimaced at the mental image of Dean getting it on with one of the beloved characters from her childhood.
They walked towards the front doors but before Mia could open them, Sam stopped her. He drew their attention to a strange flowerpot with a carving on it.
"Maybe it's not a haunting as much as it is, witching," he glanced over at his older brother. "Recognize this? It's a quincunx."
Dean furrowed his brow, "A five-spot? Like they use in hoodoo to ward things off?"
"But what are they trying to ward off?" Mia wondered aloud as she inspected the strange carving.
"Good question," Sam told her as they walked into the Inn. Mia suddenly realized that she'd left her purse in the car and ran out to grab it while the boys checked in.
A young woman with auburn hair and blue-grey eyes greeted the boys at the front desk. "Hi, I'm Susan. Can I help you with anything?"
"Yes, we'd like to rent a room for a few nights," Dean replied as he slid over his credit card.
Susan smiled, "Sure thing, we-"
But before she could continue a little blur of blonde hair and giggles flew by Sam's legs, nearly knocking him over.
"I'm sorry!" Susan apologized, "Kids will be kids, I guess."
Sam chuckled and reassured her that it was fine. Meanwhile, Mia returned and walked through the front doors as she fished through her bag to ensure she hadn't forgotten anything else.
"So, let me guess? Antiquers?" Susan suggested, her grey eyes studying the boys closely.
Dean and Sam exchanged shrugs and responded that they were, indeed, antiquers.
"Ah, I thought so. You both look the type. So, one room with a King size bed, then?"
"No, no, no! We're just brothers! We need two queens and a cot," Sam exclaimed.
"Oh, is she with the two of you?" The Innkeeper asked, gesturing to Mia.
Dean glowered at his brother's friend, "Unfortunately, yes."
"I'm so sorry, we don't have any cots. But you're more than welcome to rent another room for half-price, seeing as you're probably my last guests," Susan explained apologetically.
"What do you mean by 'last guests'?" Sam probed.
"Well, I'm actually closing the place at the end of the month. So if you find any antiques you're interested in, let me know."
Sam spoke up, "What about those urns outside the front door? Is there anything you can tell us about those?"
Susan shrugged, "Those things have been here since before I was born… Uh, so what are the room arrangements?"
"I'll take the single room, these two can have the doubles," Mia offered as Susan handed the three of them, keys to their rooms.
The innkeeper rang her bell and then spoke; "Okay, well you'll be staying in room 236, across the room from the boys who will be staying in room 237. Sherwin will show you to your rooms, won't you Sherwin?"
Just as she finished speaking, an older man wearing a black suit appeared and grabbed Dean's bag. They walked up the stairs and listened to Sherwin ramble about the history of the estate. He explained that the house had been around for many, many years. So long, in fact, that his parents and grandparents had worked there.
"Why is she selling the place?" Dean inquired.
"There's not as much business as there used to be," Sherwin sighed. "It's too bad. I'm gonna miss it… Well, here are your rooms."
He opened both doors then turned to Dean and held out his hand for a tip, which Dean gave him reluctantly.
Mia unpacked and then walked over to Sam and Dean's room with her journal. Sam sat on his bed and researched on his laptop while Dean had a good look around.
"Alright, the victims were Joan Edison, a realtor handling the sale of the place, and the other was Larry Williams who was moving stuff to Goodwill," Sam read off of his laptop.
Dean sat on the bed next to him, "There's our connection, both of them had their hand in shutting the place down. So someone must be using hoodoo to ensure that this place keeps running."
"Who do you think our witch doctor is then?" Mia questioned.
"I don't think it's Susan," Sam began, "then again, it doesn't seem like Sherwin would be the type to cast hexes…"
"Maybe there's a third suspect in this place… I'm gonna have a look around, you guys coming?" Mia announced as she stood up from their desk.
Sam nodded, "Be there in a minute, I'm just gonna put my laptop away."
She left the room, unknowingly, leaving her journal on the desk near Dean, who decided to pick it up.
"Dean," Sam warned, "I really don't think you should read that."
Dean snorted, "I wanna see what she has written in her precious, little, diary."
He flipped through the pages until he spotted his own name written down. His eyes scanned the passage.
"She says I'm 'inconsiderate, snarky, arrogant, and self-centered'. I am not self-centered! Am I, Sam?" Dean exclaimed in disbelief.
Sam groaned. "Dean, you really shouldn't be reading that it's private."
"You wanna hear what she writes about you?" Dean asked with a mischievous grin.
Sam scowled at him and Dean took that as a signal to continue, "She says 'Sam has been a wonderful friend to me. Yesterday I told him about my mom,' - wait, what about her mom?"
Sam shut his laptop. "If she hasn't told you, it's none of your business."
"You're no fun," Dean griped as he shut her journal and put it back where he'd found it.
They got up to leave the room and found Mia standing out in the hallway, her arms crossed, glaring at the two of them.
"What do you want, sour face?" Dean asked dismissively.
"You know, the walls are really thin in this place," She stated.
"Yeah, so?"
Mia shoved him hard into the wall to get passed him.
"Don't. Touch. My. Journal," She hissed menacingly before she moved past him to remove the book from their room.
Sam couldn't help but snicker at his brother's misfortune. "I told you."
"Can it, Sammy."
They walked through the hallways of the Inn together. They found a few more items that were marked with the five-spot, and some creepy pictures, but nothing that could prove that there was anyone who had a strong enough motive to cast hoodoo besides Susan and Sherwin.
Eventually, they came across a room that was marked 'Private'. Sam shrugged and knocked on the door, thinking that another staff member, who could be behind the hoodoo, would answer the door. But to their surprise, it was Susan who answered.
"Hello? Is everything alright with your rooms?" She asked worriedly.
Sam, Dean, and Mia nodded.
Mia glanced behind Susan and into the room to see a giant shelf covered in antique dolls. "Wow! Those dolls are, umm…"
"Incredibly creepy?" Dean supplied as he stared at the freaky, child-like dolls.
Sam elbowed his brother.
Susan shook off his comment, "It's alright. I guess they are a little strange, but they've been in the family for years. They have a lot of sentimental value."
Mia stepped forwards, "Would you mind terribly if we had a look? I know a lot about antique dolls and I'd love to see them."
Reluctantly, Susan let them inside to look around.
The dolls were beautiful yet terrifying at the same time. Mia glanced around the room and her eyes fell onto a giant dollhouse.
"I would've killed to have a dollhouse like this when I was a little girl," She exclaimed as she observed it.
Susan smiled at hearing this, "It's an exact replica of the hotel, custom-built."
Mia grinned, "Hey look, there's our rooms!"
Sam leaned over to inspect the dollhouse and was surprised to find one of the dolls lying on the stairs with its head twisted backward. He frowned and picked it up, "What happened to this doll? Its head is twisted around."
"Tyler, probably," Susan sighed.
At that moment, Tyler ran into the room. Sam and Dean recognized her as the little girl who'd run by them earlier that day.
"Mom, Maggie's being mean to me," Tyler tattled.
Susan smiled fondly at her daughter, "Tell Maggie I said to play nice."
"Tyler, I see you broke your doll. Do you want me to fix it?" Sam asked, holding up the male doll to her.
Tyler shook her blonde hair. "No, I didn't do it! I found him like that."
"Maybe, Maggie did it," Dean suggested.
"No, neither of us did it. We aren't allowed to touch Grandma's dolls or she'll get mad."
"She won't get mad," Susan chided her daughter.
"Grandma?" Mia asked, thinking she might be the third suspect.
"Grandma Rose," Tyler explained. "She lives in the attic, these are her dolls."
"I'd love to talk to her-" Mia began but Susan cut her off.
"No. I'm sorry but my mother is sick and isn't taking any visitors."
"Oh, okay," Mia replied in a disappointed tone.
The three of them left, assured that the shut-in Grandma had to be their witch doctor. Dean instructed his brother to do research on the woman while he went to get food. Mia went with Sam to help.
"Why haven't you told him?" Sam asked her after a long silence.
She glanced up from her laptop. "What?"
"Why haven't you told Dean about your family?" He questioned her.
Mia lay back on the bed. "I guess because there's really no reason to tell him. I mean, why would he even care? I don't matter to him."
Her friend watched her closely and half-smiled. "Oh, I think he cares. He just pretends not to because it's easier to hate you than to hate himself for thinking he got Dad killed, and hate Dad for throwing the news about me onto him."
Mia hugged her knees to her chest. "I just don't think he deserves to hear about me. I trust you more than him, you're a really good friend."
At those words, Sam beamed. "I'm glad you think so."
A few minutes later, Dean showed up with food: salad for Sam, a burger for himself, and a meat lover's pizza for Mia. She thanked him for the pizza and bit her tongue to keep from reprimanding him for purposely buying the one kind of pizza she didn't like.
He grinned as he watched her eat the pizza with a grimace on her face. He enjoyed exacting revenge for earlier when she'd shoved him.
As she ate, she flipped through the pages of the demon book Bobby had lent her ages ago. She was reading a passage about hoodoo to understand more about how it worked. Dean scooted over to her and read over her shoulder to purposely irritate her. She groaned loudly and shifted herself so he couldn't bother her.
"What are you reading?" Dean inquired in an annoying tone.
"A story."
"Read me the story," He teased, wanting to make her uncomfortable.
Mia huffed, and then straightened her posture as she read, "Once upon a time, you weren't such an annoying bitch."
She glanced up to see Dean's reaction. He was frowning. "I don't like it," He told her, in the same annoying tone.
Mia rolled her eyes and shut the book.
"Did you find anything?" Dean asked Sam, as he moved away from Mia.
Sam shook his head. "Nothing really. This place has been completely clean until about a month ago, that's when the accidents started."
Suddenly, they heard sirens outside and rushed to the window. Downstairs there was a man being pulled from the hotel in a stretcher, and into an ambulance.
"Oh no," Mia remarked in a worried tone.
Dean dashed downstairs to get information while Sam watched from the window, sadly.
"I can't believe this," He sighed. "Another person is dead because we couldn't prevent it, I couldn't prevent it."
"Hey, hey. Don't think like that. How could you have known? There's no way you could've prevented it. Don't blame yourself," Mia said to him, as she gave him a reassuring smile.
But he wasn't moved. Instead, he chose to wallow in his own misery and told her that he wanted to be alone right now. Mia respected his wishes but became worried when she saw him reach for a bottle of whisky. She moved her things back to her room and decided that Dean needed to know what his brother was doing so he could take care of him, or talk him out of his depression.
She changed into comfier clothing, then walked downstairs to find Dean, talking to Susan, who was a complete wreck.
"Dean, umm. Sam's having a little situation, upstairs. Maybe you should go talk to him," She said as politely as possible.
Hearing that his brother needed help got Dean to move quickly. He left for their room, leaving Susan with Mia.
"What happened? I heard the sirens," She asked the innkeeper.
The woman took a deep breath, "Um, there was a lawyer staying here for the night, and uh… He was from the company trying to buy the place… The maid found him hanging from the rafters, dead. It was horrible!"
She began weeping and Mia put a hand on her arm in an attempt to comfort her. "Everything will be okay, Susan. Things will get better."
The innkeeper nodded as she tried to regain her composure. "I can't believe what's happening. This place is full of bad luck, and I just hope I'll be able to sell it."
"You will," Mia promised.
Susan asked if she wanted a complimentary cup of tea to make up for the disturbance but Mia politely refused, claiming she had a lot of work to do. She went upstairs to check on Sam but before she could open the door, she heard the two of them arguing.
"No Dean, you don't understand! The more people I save, the more I can change my destiny," Sam's slurred voice insisted.
"Okay, time for bed, Sasquatch," Dean replied and he grunted. Mia figured he was putting Sam to bed.
"Dean, you have to watch out for me, okay? If I start becoming something I'm not… you have to kill me," Sam declared.
"Sam-"
"You have to, Dean! I might become a monster. Already, everyone around me is dying!"
"Well, I'm not dying, okay! You're not dying, and neither is Mia, which is too bad for me."
"Dean," Sam's voice had become desperate, "you have to promise me. You're the only person capable of doing this."
"Don't ask me to do that," Dean begged.
Sam cried, "Please! You have to promise me."
His older brother took a deep breath before making the promise.
"Thank you," Sam sighed, before becoming silent.
Mia held her breath and counted to ten before knocking on the door.
Dean answered and groaned when he saw her. He stepped outside into the hallway. "What do you want?"
Mia's face was flushed after overhearing the conversation and her guilty expression made it easy for him to put two and two together. He knew that she'd heard their conversation.
"I don't want to talk about this, least of all with you," He told her.
She looked into his eyes. "I can't believe you promised him that."
"He wouldn't take no for an answer."
"No," Mia shook her head. "You didn't just say it to shut him up, you meant it. That was brave of you."
Dean rolled his eyes, "I can't do this right now." He turned to leave but Mia called back,
"I know how you're feeling."
Those words sent Dean into a fury. He spun around to face her; he gave her a death glare and advanced slowly.
"Don't say that to me, you have no idea what I feel! You don't know what it's like knowing your own brother, who you've protected since he was born, might turn into some horrible monster that you'll need to take care of. You have no idea what it feels like to have your dad make you promise to kill the person you've sworn to him to protect. You don't know anything, Mia. You come from a family that was devoted to you. You had little siblings who looked up to you and you just threw them away like they were nothing! You've never lost anyone you loved in your life. You don't know how I feel about losing my dad and possibly losing Sam and you know nothing about grief!"
Although they'd argued many times about petty things like music, beer, movies, and food. They had never had an argument as intense as this. Mia, who had never cried in front of Dean before, felt tears filling up her eyes. His words had cut so deeply into her that her heart began to ache and her hands began shaking as she tried to remain unaffected by him. She decided then and there that she was going to stop babying him and letting him act like a jerk toward her, to truly confront him.
Mia clenched her fists and bit her cheek to keep herself steady. She took a deep breath and stepped towards him.
"You're wrong," She told him softly. "I know how you feel guilty, depressed, angry, spiteful, confused, scared. You feel as if there's a giant hole in you that no matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to fill it. You pretend to be okay, and you put on this charade because you want to be seen as strong."
He gazed at her, puzzled by the accuracy at which she was describing his feelings. She took note of his confusion and continued, her voice growing stronger.
"Did it ever occur to you that you know nothing about me? I know how you feel because I lost my father when I was six years old. He died in a hunting accident. Some idiot thought he was a fucking deer and shot at him in the woods. He died instantly. It happened a few weeks before Christmas because I remember sitting under the Christmas tree, begging Santa to give me my father for Christmas. I didn't care about snow, or presents, or even the food. I just wanted him back, and he never came back... I was devastated. I grew up without a dad. How many birthday parties, Christmases, and Father's days I spent wishing he was alive? At least your dad got to see you grow up before he passed… Then, my mom died too. I lost her when I was fifteen. Car accident. She was rushing home from work and was hit by another car. She never got to see me graduate, never got to see me drive for the first time, she wasn't there when I started my first job, and she won't be there when if I get married or have kids. After she died, I was left out in the cold for a couple of months, until the Millers took me in. Irene had been close with my mom and they figured they had rooms to spare. I lived with them for four years, and then Cleo died, my best friend since childhood. I went on that case with you and Sam and my foster mom saw me at the cemetery. She was ashamed of me, Dean. She told me I was a filthy hunter, and that she wouldn't let me live under that roof anymore. I NEVER RAN AWAY, DON'T YOU GET IT? I WAS KICKED OUT! I HAD NOWHERE TO GO."
At this point, tears were streaming like rivers down her cheeks as she tried, in vain, to keep her voice steady.
"So maybe I don't know exactly how you feel right now, and maybe I never will. But don't you ever tell me that I don't know what grief is, I've lived with it for almost my whole life."
She knew she had to preserve what little dignity she had left so she turned around and opened her hotel room door before slamming it behind her and running to the bathroom to stem her flow of tears. She'd just told him everything… All of her cards were on the table and she felt like a fool for telling him, but he needed to understand that she knew what he was feeling about the passing of his own father.
Dean was completely and utterly stunned by her words. It took him a few minutes to comprehend exactly what she'd been telling him, and by that point, he was mentally and emotionally exhausted which meant that a trip to the hotel bar was necessary.
He walked into the lounge, which was completely deserted except for Sherwin who was standing in the bar. Dean rubbed his eyes as he recognized the setting was eerily familiar to that of the Shinning.
He sat down at the bar while Sherwin poured him a glass.
"Find any good antiques?"
"Uh no, I kind of got distracted," Dean replied.
Sherwin nodded. "I could hear you arguing. You and that girl remind me of my parents…. They were married for 56 years."
Dean groaned at the thought of marrying Mia. Irritating Mia, with her blue eyes filled with tears. He winced as he tried to block her confession from his head. It was giving him a migraine. He took a long sip of the drink Sherwin had poured for him.
"Awful about that guy killing himself," Dean said, hoping to change the subject.
Sherwin sighed, "There seems to be a lot of bad luck going around here."
"I heard about the other accidents, it's almost as though this hotel is cursed," Dean replied.
"Well, every hotel has its secrets. If people only knew the stories that took place inside these walls," Sherwin told him.
Dean glanced up and half-smiled, "You must know a lot of stories about this place, and I'd love to hear them."
"Never say that to an old man," Sherwin smiled.
He took Dean on a private tour of the hotel and went through the various photographs that hung on the walls.
"Here's one of Miss Susan and her mother, in happier days," Sherwin handed him a photo of a much younger Susan who seemed to be around her daughter's age with a woman who had brown hair and brown eyes.
"Not too happy now?"
Sherwin turned to him, "Well would you be happy having to leave the only home you've ever known?"
Dean glanced down, "I wouldn't know, I never really had one… But so this is Susan's mother's home?"
"It's been in her family for generations, they've always owned the estate, and now the poor thing gets to live in some senior living graveyard while they tear down the place," Sherwin explained.
Dean nodded. There was her motive for preventing the sale of the house.
"Who's that?" He asked, taking note of a photograph with a younger girl sitting in the lap of an African American woman who wore a quincunx necklace.
"That's Rose and her governess Marie. She looked after her more than her own mother, at times."
Dean frowned. Was it possible that Marie could've been the one to teach Rose to use hoodoo spells which she was now using to prevent her childhood home from being sold?
When he came back upstairs a few hours later, he walked by Mia's room and wondered if he should knock to check on her. He decided against it and instead unlocked his room to check on his brother who was currently vomiting into the toilet.
Dean snickered at his brother's predicament and filled him in about Rose's nanny knowing hoodoo.
"We should definitely pay Rose a visit," Sam agreed before cleaning himself up. "You grab Mia, while I get dressed."
Dean winced, "She doesn't want me waking her up. Besides, last time I tried to, she hit me!"
Sam turned and vomited again in the toilet.
"Fine, I'll do it," Dean grumbled as he left the hotel room, which was beginning to smell awful. He walked across the hall and knocked on the door, calling for her to get up.
He expected to see her puffy-eyed, and messy-haired, wrapped in a blanket when she opened the door but was surprised to see her fully dressed and looking normal. She wore jeans, a grey hoodie, and a blue button-up top with her usual black Converse. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail.
"Uh, we're gonna go interrogate Rose," He explained awkwardly.
She nodded and walked into his hotel room without a word.
Once Sam was feeling better, the three of them walked over to the playroom and snuck in, realizing that Susan wasn't around. They came upstairs to the attic and saw an old woman in her rocking chair, wrapped in various blankets, trembling as she gazed out the window.
"Rose?" Mia asked softly as they crept closer to her. The old woman's brown eyes darted around as they came into her line of vision.
"Mrs. Thompson? Hello? We're not going to hurt you, we just want to talk to you," Sam explained in a soothing tone. Rose didn't respond. She just kept trembling as usual.
Sam pulled them from the old woman and explained that she'd had a stroke, which was why she couldn't move or make a sound.
"That doesn't make any sense," Mia frowned, "isn't hoodoo kind of hard to do when you can't move? I mean, you have to mix herbs, make an altar, and recite chants."
"It might not be hoodoo at all," Sam agreed.
Dean glanced over at the old woman. "Or she could be faking."
"What? You wanna poke her with a stick to check?" Sam joked.
His brother frowned but then nodded, before turning towards Rose.
Sam grabbed his arm. "You are not poking her with a stick!"
"What the hell?! What are you doing in here?" Came the alarmed voice of Susan as she entered the room.
"Uh, the door was open," Sam replied.
"We just wanted to say Hi," Dean said.
"I wanted to ask about the dolls," Mia overlaid.
Susan darted to her mother and gasped. "She's scared out of her wits!"
Mia glanced over at Rose who hadn't moved or made a sound. "How can you tell?"
Offended by her question and furious with the three of them for coming into the room, Susan demanded that they get off of her property before she called the cops.
They packed up and drove out, giving the impression that they'd left the hotel, when in actuality. Dean had just parked the car in the woods nearby, which gave them a great vantage point to see what was going on in the house.
"I'll take the first watch," Mia offered, as she'd been the only one to get a good night's rest.
Dean fell asleep instantly and dreamt of hoodoo magic, quincunxes, haunted mansions, and poking old women with sticks.
Sam stayed awake with her and they watched the house for any movement.
"Sam," Mia began after a while, "I'm sorry about Ava, but I really don't think you should blame yourself for her disappearance. There's nothing you could've done."
Sam sighed, "I should've known what to do."
"No," Mia told him. "Don't put that kind of pressure on yourself. You can't save everyone, okay? That's unfortunately, just the way it goes. If you blame yourself for every death that happens within a ten-foot radius of you then you'll be miserable forever."
He glanced over at her. "But if I save more people, then I'm not a monster."
Mia's eyes widened. "What? Whoever said you were a monster, huh? You, for some strange reason, have powers that you use for good, and you have the audacity to call yourself a monster? You, who sacrificed your dream of living a normal life to save people from things that most don't even know, exist? Sam Winchester, you are the pure opposite of a monster, and I don't think you'll ever become one."
"You don't know that," Sam told her sadly.
"I do know that because, no matter what dark magic, and demonic bullshit is being thrown your way you can always overpower it. Why? Because good always triumphs over evil, and you are as good as they come," Mia reassured him.
Sam was moved by her words. Her faith in him was inspiring, but he wished he could believe her.
Suddenly, the swings in the front yard began to swing on their own as they watched Susan pack boxes into the back of a truck.
"What the hell?" Mia frowned.
"Look, the teeter-totter is moving too," Sam observed.
Dean, who'd awoken a few minutes earlier, sat up. "What's going on?"
"Susan's in danger," Mia announced as she climbed out of the car and sprinted to save the woman from her car, which has just started rolling towards her, intent on killing her.
Mia tackled Susan out of the path of the car while Dean and Sam trailed after her.
"Are you alright?" Sam asked the woman as he helped pull her to her feet.
She nodded, although she looked badly shaken. They took her inside and gave her some whisky to calm her nerves.
"What the hell was that?" Susan demanded.
Dean winced, "Do you want the truth or-"
"Yes, I want the truth."
Sam took a deep breath. "It wasn't your car that tried to kill you, it was definitely a spirit."
Susan's eyes widened. "You're insane!"
Mia shrugged, "Can you think of any other logical explanation?"
The woman frowned as she tried, and failed, to come up with one.
"When did your mother have the stroke?" Sam inquired.
"About a month ago."
Dean nodded, "That's about when the deaths started happening."
"Guys," Mia began, her expression filled with realization, "we had it wrong from the beginning, it wasn't hoodoo causing those deaths, it was preventing them! Rose must've used it to ward off the unwanted spirit and now she can't anymore, so it's running free."
"I don't believe this," Susan mumbled to herself.
"Believe what you want to believe but that doesn't change the fact that you're in great danger. You need to evacuate everyone; your employees, your mother, and your daughters," Sam told her.
She frowned, "I, I only have one daughter, Tyler."
"Doesn't Tyler have a sister named Maggie?" Mia questioned, certain that she'd heard Tyler tattling on her sister just one day ago.
Susan stared at her in disbelief, "What?"
They ran upstairs to Tyler's playroom to ask her more about her 'imaginary friend' Maggie and found it empty. The shelves of china dolls had fallen to the floor, leaving the little dolls in broken pieces.
"Oh my God! Tyler!" Susan cried out as she desperately searched for her daughter.
"Susan, think. What do you know about Maggie?" Sam prompted.
"She's been around ever since my mom got sick."
Mia's eyes widened, "Did you ever know a Maggie? Maybe a girl who died here?"
"My mom," Susan exclaimed, "my mom had a sister named Margaret who died when she was a little girl. She drowned in the swimming pool!"
The four of them took off; the spirit's location was now pinpointed.
When they reached the pool house, which was locked, they saw Tyler standing at the ledge of the pool.
"TYLER!" Susan cried out.
Her young daughter spun around and saw her mother, Sam, Dean, and Mia pounding at the locked door.
"Mommy!" She cried before, what seemed like, an invisible force, pulled her down into the pool and began to drown her.
Susan screamed in terror.
"Is there another door?" Dean demanded and Susan nodded before running off with him to the door on the other side of the building while Sam and Mia continuously tried to break open the door.
Sam kicked the door as hard as he could while Mia tried to concentrate. She pictured the door opening and focused hard before throwing herself at the door.
To her surprise, it flew open. She frowned for a moment, wondering how the door opened so quickly but Sam wasted no time, running through the door and jumping off of the same ledge Tyler fell from, into the pool.
Mia darted inside and ran down to the side of the pool as Sam pulled the young girl out of the water and carried her over. Meanwhile, Dean and Susan were still trying to open the back door.
"Bring her to me," Mia cried out to Sam. "I know CPR!"
He obliged and laid out the unconscious girl so Mia could help her.
She took a deep breath and just as she pressed down on Tyler's chest for her first pump, the little girl sat up and sputtered out the water from her lungs.
"Tyler!" The innkeeper's voice called out as she and Dean, who'd finally broken down his door, ran into the pool house. Within moments the two of them were by Tyler's side.
"Do you see Maggie anymore, Tyler?" Sam asked as he climbed out of the pool.
The soaking girl shook her head. "No, she's gone."
Her mother held her close and mumbled a thank you to Sam and Mia for rescuing her daughter. They smiled in gratitude.
Dean glanced over at Mia to give her a small smile but she found that she couldn't meet his gaze.
They all went back to the house to grab Rose and evacuate the place for good, although, they were still unsure why Maggie stopped, or if she was even still around. To the group's horror, they discovered that Rose had had another stroke, this time proving to be fatal. However, they were sure that Maggie had something to do with it.
Susan said her goodbyes, thanking them again, for their help. Tyler bid them farewell too, after reassuring them that she hadn't seen Maggie anywhere in the house.
"Maybe she left?" Sam suggested as he and Dean walked over to the house to have one last look.
"I don't know, man. This hunt doesn't make any sense to me, anymore," Dean replied, shaking his head. He then stopped when he saw Mia sitting on one of the swings in front of the house. She seemed to be lost in thought, as she swung lowly.
Sam nudged him. "You should really take it easy on her… She's trying her best, and it doesn't help that you treat her like she's worthless half the time… And, don't tell her I told you this, but when Dad explained the deal he made, she offered to take his place."
Dean was utterly confounded. Why would she willingly risk her life like that?
Sam then gave his brother an encouraging smile before he walked into the house. Dean didn't know why but instead of following Sam, he walked over to Mia and joined her on the swing beside her.
"This seat taken?" He asked before sitting down.
She shrugged, still staring intensely into the distance.
"Hey uh, about all that stuff you told me; about your mom, your dad, and your foster family… How come you never mentioned it before?"
Mia dragged her shoes to the ground, slowing her momentum down. "You never asked, so I never told."
"Mmm-hmm," Dean replied skeptically.
Mia sighed in frustration and looked him square in the eye, "Look, I never should have said any of that. I was upset, I was tired, and it's not like you actually care anyways."
Dean suddenly stopped swinging himself and glanced over at her. "What? You think I don't care about you?"
"Well, you've made that pretty obvious over the course of the past few weeks," She answered bitterly.
"Okay," He replied, "I can see where you'd get that impression… but the truth is, I do care about you, quite a lot actually. I was angry that you never told me how my dad made that deal with The Demon, but I only treated you badly because-"
"Because you couldn't bear to be mad with your father," Mia finished for him, remembering Sam's words.
"Yeah," he nodded. "But now I am mad at him. I'm pissed that he told me about Sam and left the responsibility of killing him up to me. I mean, what kind of parent does that?"
She glanced up at him. "It wasn't fair of him to do that to you, and it isn't fair for you to blame yourself for his death either. He made his decision to save you, and if the roles were reversed, I'm sure you would have done the same."
Dean's eyes widened as he realized the truth behind her words. "I would have. It really scares me how far I'm willing to go for the people I care about."
Mia nodded, "I know."
"I'm sorry," Dean told her suddenly. "I'm sorry I was such a dick to you, you never deserved it. I was mad at my dad and myself, and I just projected all of my frustration out on you."
Mia, who didn't think she'd ever hear him apologize, was speechless.
"You're a good hunter, honestly," He continued, "I realize now that Sam and I probably wouldn't be here without you, and I do want you to stay with us, as long as you want."
The girl finally smiled back, "Thank you."
"How do you do that?" Dean asked, "How do you act all happy, and composed all the time when you've been through so much crap?"
She shrugged, "Honestly, I'm not as put-together as I seem to be. I still have my bad days, I still miss my dad and my mom, but I don't try to bury my pain down deep where I can never find it, I just deal with it as it comes. I usually write out my feelings, or talk to someone, like Sam."
Dean frowned, he didn't like the idea of opening up old wounds.
"You know, you don't have to be this person who never lets anyone in," she added. "I get it, you have to be strong for Sammy, you have to be brave, responsible, and stuff but you need to understand that Sam and I care about you, we want to help you, don't bury your pain and act like it doesn't matter. Talk to him, talk to me about what's going on. Just trust me, we want to help."
Dean stood from the swings. "I think it's time to go."
Mia sighed and watched him walk in front of her swing before jumping off as well. Unfortunately, she hadn't timed her jump correctly and the momentum of her swing, sent her flying into Dean, who toppled over.
"Ouch!" He cried out when she landed on top of his back.
Mia scrambled to her feet, "I'm so sorry, are you all right?"
He slowly got up, and she frowned when she saw that he was studying something closely in his hands.
"Isn't this your necklace?" He asked her as he held it out.
Mia gasped and clutched at her bare neck, "It must've fallen when I saved Susan from getting run over."
He handed it to her and she tied it around her neck. He noticed her demeanor change when she put on the necklace. She was a lot more relieved and at peace with the familiar silver chain around her neck. He realized that this necklace probably meant a lot to her.
"Where'd you get that?" He asked casually as the two of them headed back to the Impala.
"My dad gave it to me when I was only a couple of months old," Mia explained. "I've worn it all my life."
Dean smiled, "That's nice." He then pulled his own amulet out from under his shirt to show her.
"I got this from Sam for Christmas a long time ago, it's supposed to be a protective amulet that brings good luck or something like that."
Mia was pleased. He was opening up to her, although the progress was little, she was still happy that he was making an effort to be open. Maybe he'd finally stop self-internalizing everything and start talking about his problems soon…
It seemed that the two of them had finally reached an understanding. Dean was no longer using Mia as a scapegoat for his pent-up frustrations, and Mia was privy to the pain he was going through. They were on better terms and joked around as they packed up the Impala.
Sam caught up with them, "I checked the whole house, no sign of them, I guess this case is gonna stay unsolved."
Dean shrugged, "I guess so."
But none of them could get to the locked attic upstairs, where two little ghost girls jumped rope together. Maggie, and her sister Rose, who'd sacrificed her own life to protect her granddaughter.
A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed! What did you think of Mia's backstory? There's a bit more to it but you'll learn more as she does. Dean and Mia are going to be on better terms with the occasional teasing and arguing. What do you guys think? Thank you guys so much for all your reviews, views, follows, and favourites! Next chapter should be up soon!
Next Chapter: The three hunters investigate a case involving a shifter, a bank robbery, and a guy who's a little too obsessed with Terminator.